A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

CONTEMPORARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY AMERICAN WOMEN

 Introduction:

A number of excellent contemporary works of autobiography and memoir emphasize the multiple perspectives and belief systems from which a personal story unfolds. Contemporary autobiographers and memoirists increasingly feel the need to acknowledge and affirm the fluid (and sometimes contradictory) nature of "truth" in autobiography when writing about the question of referentiality in one's own life as well as in one's experiences with others. Many writers shape their narratives in specific ways to help readers understand the ways in which memory and imagination interact to reconstruct and recreate past locales, individuals, and events.

Beyond that, in many recently published works of creative nonfiction, the reader gets to "see" the author at work. This kind of reflexivity is crucial to the reader's understanding of how the author views her subjects and, consequently, how their stories are told. And, when a writer steps outside the text to comment on what she has just written, this self-reflexivity sharpens her focus as a memoirist and leads readers to ponder not only her memories but also their own.

Issues of memory and imagination, reconstruction and reinvention of the past, implications of the past for the present and future, privacy vs. telling of family secrets, the role of dreams and memories in memoir writing, real time vs. virtual time, versions of the truth, fluidity of identity, self-consciousness in narrative, the role of lies and confession in memoir writing, the influence of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation on genre in autobiography--all of these pertinent issues in theory of autobiography are interwoven into a number of the works cited in the bibliography that follows. This list is not intended to represent a comprehensive listing of works worth reading. Rather, it represents some of the most interesting works on my bookshelves as well as some of my recent choices as texts in undergraduate and graduate literature and creative writing: nonfiction courses that I have taught. I hope that it will prove useful to you.

Abbott, Shirley. The Bookmaker's Daughter: a Memory Unbound. NY: Ticknor and Fields, 1991. ISBN: 0-89919-518-0.

Allende, Isabel. Paula. NY: HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN: 0-06-01753-3.

Allison, Dorothy. Skin: Telling About Sex, Class, & Literature. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books, 1994. ISBN: 1-56341-044-3.

Bateson, Mary Catherine. Peripheral Vision: Learning Along the Way. NY: HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN: 0-06-092630-9.

Bishop, Elizabeth, ed. The Diary of "Helena Morley." NY: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1995. ISBN: 0-374-52435-1.

Blackburn, Julia. Daisy Bates in the Desert: A Woman's Life Among the Aborigines. NY: Random House, 1994. ISBN: 0-679-74446-0.

Blakeley, Mary Kay. American Mom: Motherhood, Politics, and Humble Pie. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books/Workman Publishers, 1994. ISBN: 1-56512-052-3.

Blew, Mary Clearman. Balsamroot: A Memoir. NY: Penguin Books, 1994. ISBN: 0-14-017624-1.

Brave Bird, Mary. Ohitika Woman. NY: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN: 0-06-097583-0.

Campbell, Bebe Moore. Sweer Summer: Growing Up With and Without My Dad. NY: Ballantine Books, 1989. ISBN: 0-345-36694-8.

Chicago, Judy. Beyond the Flower: The Autobiography of a Feminist Artist. NY: Viking, 1996. ISBN: 0-670-85295-3.

Cofer, Judith Ortiz. Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. Houston, TX: Arte Publico Press, 1990. ISBN: 1-55885-015-5.

Conway, Jill Kerr. The Road from Coorain. NY: Vintage/Random House Books, 1989. ISBN: 0-679-72436-2.

__________________. True North. NY: Alfred Knopf, 1994. ISBN: 0-679-42099-1.

Crafton, Barbara Cawthorne. The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love, and Work. NY: Viking, 1993. ISBN: 70-84113-7.

Culleton, Beatrice. In Search of April Raintree. Winnepeg: Peguin Publishers, 1983. ISBN: 1-895411-46-7.

Delaney, Sarah L., and A. Elizabeth. Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years. NY; Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, 1993. ISBN: 0-440-22042-4.

DeLuca, Sara. Dancing the Cows Home: A Wisconsin Girlhood. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1996.

Douglas, Marjorie Myers. Eggs in the Coffee, Sheep in the Corn: My 17 Years as a Farmwife. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1994. ISBN: 0-87351-299-5.

Feinberg, Leslie. Stone Butch Blues: A Novel. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books, 1993. ISBN: 1-56341-029-X.

Friedman, Bonnie. Writing Past Dark: Envy, Fear, Distraction, and Other Dilemmas in the Writer's Life. NY: Harper Perennial, 1993. ISBN: 0-06-092200-1.

Gaines, Patrice. Laughing in the Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color. NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1994. ISBN: 0-385-48027-x.

Gilberg, Gail Hosking. Snake's Daughter: The Roads in and Out of War. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-87745-586-4.

Gomez, Jewelle. Forty-Three Septembers. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books, 1993. ISBN: 1-56341-037-0.

Grealy, Lucy. Autobiography of a Face. NY: Harper Perennial, 1994. ISBN: 0-06-097673-X.

Griffin, Susan. The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender, and Society. NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1995. ISBN: 0-385-47399-0.

Haizlip, Shirlee Taylor. The Sweeter the Juice: a Family Memoir in Black and White. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1994. ISBN: 0-671-79235-0.

Hale, Janet Campbell. Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter. NY: Random House, 1993. ISBN: 0-06-097612-8.

Hampl, Patricia. Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1992. ISBN: 0-374-28440-7.

Hampsten, Elizabeth. Mother's Letters: Essays. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-8165-1373-2.

Heilbrun, Carolyn. Writing a Woman's Life. NY: Norton, 1988. ISBN: 0-393-02601-9.

Israeloff, Roberta. Lost and Found: A Woman Revisits Eighth Grade. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1996. ISBN: 0-684-80081-0.

Jamison, Kay Redfield. An Unquiet Mind: a Memoir of Moods and Madness. NY: Knopf, 1995. ISBN: 0-679-44374-6.

Kaplan, Alice. French Lessons: a Memoir. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-226-42419-7.

Karr, Mary. The Liars' Club: a Memoir. NY: Viking, 1995. ISBN: 0-670-85053-5.

Kehoe, Louise. In This Dark House: A Memoir. NY: Schocken Books, 1995. ISBN: 0-8052-4122-1.

Kingsolver, Barbara. High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never. NY: HarperPerennial, 1995. ISBN: 0-06-092756-9.

Knopp, Lisa. Field of Vision. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-87745-551-1.

Kusz, Natalie. Road Song: a Memoir. NY: Harper Collins, 1991. ISBN: 0-06-097425-7.

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. NY: Doubleday/Anchor, 1994. ISBN: 0-385-48001-6.

Lightfoot-Lawrence, Sara. Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Healer. NY: Addison-Wesley, 1988. Penguin Paper, 1995. ISBN: 0-14-024967-2.

________________________. I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation. NY: Addison-Wesley, 1994. Penguin Paper, 1995. ISBN: 0-14-024970-2.

Lim, Shirley Geok-Lin. Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian-American Memoir of Homelands. NY: The Feminist Press, 1996. ISBN: 1-55861-144-4.

Logue, Mary. Halfway Home: A Granddaughter's Biography. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-87351-331-2.

Mairs, Nancy. Ordinary Time: Cycles in Marriage, Faith, and Renewal. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-8070-7057-2.

_________________. Remembering the Bone House: An Erotics of Place and Space. NY: Harper and Row, 1989. ISBN: 0-06-016041-1.

Mankiller, Wilma. Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-312-11393-5.

Maran, Meredith. What It's Like to Live Now. NY: Bantam Books, 1995. ISBN: 0-553-096001.

Martinello, Marian L., and Ophelia N. Weinheimer. The Search for Emma's Story. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0-87565-070-8.

McNaron, Toni. I Dwell in Possibility: A Memoir. NY: The Feminist Press, 1992. ISBN: 1-55861-050-2.

Mori, Kyoko. The Dream of Water: A Memoir. NY: Fawcett Columbine, 1995. ISBN: 0-449-91043-1.

Morgan, Katherine Redington, ed. My Ever Dear Daughter, My Own Dear Mother: The Correspondence of Julia Stone Towne & Mary Julia Towne, 1868-1882. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-87745-564-3.

Mullen, Peg. Unfriendly Fire: a Mother's Memoir. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-87745-507-4.

Nesaule, Agate. A Woman in Amber: Healing the Trauma of War and Exile. NY: Soho Press, 1995. ISBN: 1-56947-046-4.

Norris, Kathleen. Dakota: a Spiritual Geography. NY: Ticknor and Fields, 1993. ISBN: 0-395-63320-6.

Onerheim, Margaret Ott. Threads of Memory: a Memoir of the 1920s. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-8138-0902-9.

Peters, Nell. Nell's Story: A Woman from Eagle River. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-299-14474-7.

Pratt, Minnie Bruce. S/He. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books, 1995. ISBN: 1-56341-059-1.

Raab, Elisebath M. And Peace Never Came. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-88920-292-3.

Ross, Janet. "The City That She Loved": A Reflection from the Journal of Etta Chadbourn Ross. St. Paul: St. Thomas Technology Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-9624229-6-7.

Russell, Sharman Apt. Songs of the Fluteplayer: Seasons of Life in the Southwest. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1991. ISBN: 0-201-60821-9.

Rutledge, Carol Brunner. Dying and Living on the Kansas Prairie: A Diary. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994. ISBN: 0-7006-0649-1.

Sarton, May. Encore: A Journal of the Eightieth Year. NY: Norton, 1993. ISBN: 0-393-31317-4.

Schomaker, Mary Zimmeth. LifeLine: How One Night Changed Five Lives. Far Hills, NJ: New Horizons Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-88282-135-0.

Scot, Barbara J. Prairie Reunion. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1995. ISBN: 0-374-23686-0.

_________________. The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes: Notes from Nepal. Corvallis, OR; Calyx Books, 1993. ISBN: 0-934971-35-8.

See, Carolyn. Dreaming: Hard Luck and Good Times in America. NY: Random House, 1995. ISBN: 0-679-43026-1.

Sevander, Mayme. They Took My Father: A Story of Idealism and Betrayal. Duluth: Pfeifer-Hamilton Publishers, 1992. ISBN: 0-938586-64-5.

Sidransky, Ruth. In Silence: Growing Up Hearing in a Deaf World. London: Piatkus Publishers, 1992. ISBN: 0-7499-1098-4.

Smith, Annick. Homestead. St. Paul: Milkweed Editions, 1995. ISBN: 1-57131-206-4.

Smith, Margaret Charles and Linda Janet Holmes. Listen to Me Good: The Life Story of an Alabama Midwife. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-8142-0701-4.

Staebler, Edna, ed. Haven't Any News: Ruby's Letters from the 50's. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-88920-248-6.

Swados, Elizabeth. The Four of Us: a Family Memoir. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1991. ISBN: 0-374-15219-5.

Swander, Mary. Out of This World: A Woman's Life Among the Amish. New York: Viking Press, 1995.

Truitt, Anne. Daybook: The Journal of an Artist. NY: Penguin Books, 1982. ISBN: 0-14-0069631.

Walker, Alice. The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult. NY: Scribners, 1996. ISBN: 0-684-81419-6.

Waterman, Cary. When I Looked Back, You Were Gone. Poems. Duluth: Holy Cow! Press, 1992. ISBN: 0-930100-47-6.

Webb, Ruth Cameron. Journey into Personhood. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1994. ISBN: 0-87745-471-X.

Weimer, Joan. Back Talk: Teaching Lost Selves to Speak. NY: Random House, 1994. ISBN: 0-679-41546-7.

Wurtzel, Elizabeth. Prozac Nation: a Memoir. NY: Berkeley Publishing Group, 1994. ISBN: 1057322051206.

NOTE: The citations above have been selected from my reading in autobiography and from my course syllabi over the past several years. The following citations represent recently published secondary source materials on autobiogaphical writing by women.

Braham, Jeanne. Crucial Conversations: Interpreting Contemporary American Literary Autobiographies by Women. NY: Teachers College Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8077-6278-4.

Bunkers, Suzanne L., and Cynthia A. Huff, eds. Inscribing the Daily: Critical Essays on Women's Diaries. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996. ISBN: 1-55849-011-6.

Freedman, Diane P., Olivia Frey, and Frances Murphy Zauhar, eds. The Intimate Critique: Autobiographical Literary Criticism. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-8223-1292-1.

Gluck, Sherna Berger, and Daphne Patai, eds. Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History. NY: Routledge, 1991. ISBN: 0-415-90372-6.

Hoffmann, Leonore, and Margo Culley, eds. Women's Personal Narratives: Essays in Criticism and Pedagogy. NY: Modern Language Association, 1985. ISBN: 0-87352-343-1.

Personal Narratives Group. Interpreting Women's Lives: Feminist Theory and Personal Narratives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.